The Art of Peace and Happiness

There are three possibilities for our self - to be something, nothing, or everything. As ‘something’ we believe and feel our self to be a cluster of thoughts, feelings, and sensations - a body/mind - born into a world, moving and changing, and ultimately destined for death. As ‘nothing’ - not a thing - we know our self as the open, empty space of Awareness in which all appearances of the body, mind, and world arise. This space is not affected by whatever appears within it and is thus experienced as peace itself; it is inherently free of resistance and seeking and is, as such, experienced as unconditional happiness; and it does not share the limits or destiny of whatever appears within it and is thus experienced as freedom.

This empty space of our own Being is also intimately one with all experience. In fact, it is even closer than that. All we know is the knowing of experience and that ‘knowing’ is our self. This ‘knowing’ doesn’t just pervade all experience; it is all experience. As such, our self is realized not just as the witnessing Awareness in the background of experience - although it is often ‘found’ there first - but in the foreground as well. As such we know our self - it knows itself - as ‘everything.’ This intimacy, in which there is no separation or otherness, is the familiar experience of love.

In Rupert’s meetings, through silent meditation, guided meditation, and conversation, we explore each of these possibilities in relation to our own experience. It is an exploration that goes far deeper than intellectual understanding, penetrating not just our thoughts but the way we feel the body and perceive the world, profoundly affecting our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, activities, and relationships.

There is the possibility to stay the first two days from the evening of Friday 12th to lunch on Sunday 14th October or the full seven days from Friday 12th to Friday 19th October.